How to Prepare for the Loss of Your Job

Living with the unknown and not knowing whether or not you will have your job tomorrow or next week or even next year can be very stressful. But here are few simple steps that can prepare you for a job loss

In today’s tough economic climate, job security is very scarce. You may have had a job for many years with promised retirement benefits and think you are safe, but the forces of globalization and the New World Order are at work and your job is not as secure as it might have been 20 or 30 years ago.

You can follow simple steps so as to prepare yourself for a job loss or even when you know that you will have a job for a while.

1. Invest in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum. Precious metals are a good long-term investment for difficult times. First of all, as the dollar falls, the value of precious metals increases. Currently, the ballpark rates for precious metals are as follows. Gold is roughly worth $900 an ounce, Silver is roughly worth $27 an ounce and platinum is even more valuable than gold at $2,000 an ounce.

2. Keep a rainy day fund which can be a special bank account or even a bank account under your mattress with money that you do not touch unless you really need to. This extra money can be useful in times where you cannot pay bills, such as when you have lost your job.

3. Learn about internet marketing and working on the internet. Lately, the internet can be a great source of passive income. There are many companies out there that provide services for those people who are novices at internet marketing and etailing. Etailing can be done by having an e-commerce site and being able to sell products by using a dropshipper. One of the best services to help you build your online store is Stores Online which is based in Colorado.

The best thing about the internet is that you can have a website where you sell something and it can generate some sort of income when you don’t have the income coming in that you had when you had your job. If you have writing and other computer skills, you can also freelance on the internet and find work online. The internet can be a great safety net if used correctly if you lose your job.

4. Keep a tight budget when you get information that your employer is planning to downsize its workforce. When your employer is downsizing, you may or may not lose your job, but you should always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Marketing yourself can always help your situation

The reason why many people get themselves stuck in a rut when losing their job is because they have a poor way of marketing themselves. Marketing yourself is just as important when you lose your job as it is when you are looking for your first job. This especially applies to professionals.

If you have a high-profile job which has a good salary, the fall from losing that job can be a very hard one, but if you have a portfolio that shows all your skills and achievements, you will be more likely to find a new job much quicker. You need to remember, in difficult economic times, employers will only hire the best of the best. Being able to multitask is also crucial to finding a new job once you have lost your job. Steps that can help you find a new job quicker once you have lost your job are:

1. Keep a good repo with your employer. Being on good terms with your boss is crucial in finding a new job. Many employers look at the relationship with your previous employer before hiring you. They like to check if you like to work, how you work, your job performance, etc.

2. Clearly show your skills, achievements and other positives. Employers look at what skills you have. The more skills that you develop, the more likely you are able to land another job faster after you lose your job. If you have past work-related achievements such as employee of the month or year awards, display them in your resume. This can be a great plus when applying for a new job.

3. Have a presentable image when applying for a job. Have a clean-cut image. Dress in a professional manner and keep your hair nicely combed, be clean-shaven or have your mustache and beard well-groomed, keep your finger nails clean and clipped.

Health insurance and job loss can be a big problem. In most cases, if you have a professional office job, your employer provides you with some kind of health insurance. This means that if you lose one, you will more than likely lose the other. Most people who get laid off from their jobs also lose the benefits that they had when they were working at that particular employer. This is where e-commerce site comes handy as mentioned above.

If you can successfully have an e-commerce site, you still have some passive income that can be used to buy a secondary health insurance policy for such cases. If you do not have the ability to do something on the internet, you can look up the US Department of Labor for advice on obtaining health coverage while you are out of work.

The US Department of Labor has some programs such as COBRA that can help find people who lose their jobs find affordable health insurance or even subsidized health insurance.

Whatever you do, job loss is a possibility that is constantly looming in today’s economy and there are many charities and other services available to help you find a new job or obtain unemployment benefits until you find another job.